Veela Fairytale
by JulieAnn5
Summary: Draco is a Veela and the least likely person on earth is his mate, Hermione Granger.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the plot.

Quick Background: Set in 7th year, before the big and final fight

June 5

"Happy Birthday, Darling!" An exuberant Narcissa Malfoy exclaimed as she entered her son's bed chamber. Her happy cries stopped abruptly when she saw Draco; he was lying down holding his stomach and moaning softly. Thinking him ill, she rushed out to call a doctor. Just as she was about to Floo to St. Mungo's, Lucius appeared.

"Narcissa, what on earth are you doing?" He questioned.

"Draco . . . there's something wrong with him . . ." She was franticly searching for the powder.

"Oh, dear, I was quit hoping it would pass his generation."

She stopped and looked up with a bewildered face, "What would skip him?" She asked slowly, fearing the answer. She always knew Lucius was a bit different; his bleach blonde hair and the way he could make any woman swoon, but she never could put her finger on what caused it.

"Veela blood," He replied.

Narcissus fainted into a heap in a chair at the same time Draco was descending the staircase.

"So, what's this do about Veelas?"

"You are one, son. It's from my side of the family and it was so little I thought you wouldn't have it. Your mother," Lucius pointed," had no idea because I never told her she was my mate so she would have a choice."

"Mate?" Draco asked as he sat down, feeling a little faint himself.

"When a veela reaches of age, he has a mate destined for him or her. They must bond with their mates within six months of their birthday. You should rest now. The transformation takes a lot of you."

Draco watched his father carry Narcissa to the master suite and then headed up the steps to take a nap.

Hermione loaded her bags onto the train and then went in search of an empty compartment and her two best friends. She was walking up the hall, peering into every door when she collided with something hard.

"Malfoy" she sneered.

He could smell her sweet vanilla shampoo and almost melted. He didn't move back, but she did. When he tried to take a step toward her she took one back and asked, "Are you alright? You look a little. . ."

"No, I'm not alright, Granger," he snapped.

"Sorry, just trying to be nice, you ought to try it once," said Hermione.

And then she was gone. The sweet aroma remained a little while longer and he almost saw his breakfast again when he realized Hermione 'Mudblood' Granger, was his mate.

"Harry, Ron, how was your summer?" Hermione asked as she sat down in their compartment. They both had grown a good foot and had, or at least looked, more mature.

"Great, yours?" they replied

"It was fine, thank you."

Hermione noticed the Perfects Badge that Ron wore and couldn't help but wonder why she didn't receive one. She had done everything right, made perfect grades, and didn't abuse her power last year, but no badge came with her letter. Neither boy seemed to notice.

"Hello, Draco," purred Pansy Parkinson.

"Humph," was all he could reply because Pansy had immediately attached herself to Draco's face and gave herself the job of checking for cavities with her tongue.

He managed to push her away and turned pink when he saw that they weren't alone.

Blaise Zambini was laughing about her behavior to the point of turning blue. He was a handsome fellow, with dark curly hair and the attractive olive complexion of a true Italian. "_Oh, why can't Pansy hang all over him?" _Draco thought desperately.

"Pansy, don't ever do that to my again. We're not even dating."

"But we could?" She hinted.

"Um. . . NO! Go shag Blaise or something."

Pansy then leapt on the tall, dark, and handsome boy. If anyone could have heard him through Pansy's lip lock they would have been _blessed_ with hearing a quite impressive vocabulary of curse words.

The sorting had just finished and the hall was ready for dinner. Ron's stomach was growling so loud, Hermione had to put a silencing spell on it. As Ron looked hopefully at his plate, waiting for food to appear, Dumbledore had one more announcement.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, I am the headmaster. I hope you have a great year and please don't hesitate to come to my office if you need anything. I would like to introduce the perfects. From Hufflepuff, Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott; Ravenclaw, Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil; Slytherin, Blaise Zambini and Pansy Parkinson; and Gryffindor, Ronald Weasley and Katie Bell. Now, for the most important, the heads. This year we had some wonderful candidates, but two outshined the rest. The Head Boy is Draco Malfoy and the Head Girl is Hermione Granger. Please see me after the feast. Thank you."

The whole hall erupted into cheers. Hermione was euphoric and couldn't stop smiling. After Harry and Ron congratulated her, they started eating. Malfoy could tell she had entered the room before the feast began without looking up. At the particular moment, he was trying with great difficulty to look anywhere but at Hermione. The feast lasted a while or so it seemed to Hermione, but not long enough for Malfoy who wished to continue to stare. Blaise, who Draco had confided the truth with Blaise once they both deserted Pansy, at one point had to remind him to eat and told him he was being extremely obvious.

Harry and Ron left Hermione and started up to the common room once the feast was over with. All the perfects were leading the first years and the teachers had gotten up to pass out the new passwords. Dumbledore, Malfoy, and Hermione were the only ones left.

"You two will be sharing a dorm this year," Dumbledore paused letting the information sink in, "as well as, planning the Halloween Ball and conducting the perfects meeting."

They both nodded, unsure about the dorm.

"Please follow me." Dumbledore lead them out of the hall, up two flights of steps, past many suits of armor, until they finally arrived at a painting of a young girl swinging.

"Good evening, Albus." She smiled.

"Ah, Thessa, lovely to see you. You may pick out a password," Dumbledore said the last part to Malfoy and Hermione, "See you tomorrow."

They all watched him walk away, not moving an inch. Neither could come up with a password and Thessa was getting a bit annoyed, "Hurry up, already."

"Well . . . um . . . how about Cinderella?" asked Hermione.

"Sure, but what is a Cine-rella?"

"It's a fairytale my mom used to read to me. She is a princess and has awful stepsister, but still finds her true love and lives happily ever after." She blushed after she noticed what she said.

They entered the common room and were blown away. It was huge and had two couches in the room around the fireplace. The curtains and pillows were a lovely silver and gold with the white couches.

"Wow" Hermione couldn't help but say. Malfoy barely saw the room he was so busy watching her. He thought she was beautiful with the look of wonder and surprise. He would have stayed there observing, if she hadn't walked into her room. He decided he better check his out. He went to the door on the left assuming that her bedroom had to be the one on the right.

It was also lovely with a big four poster canopy bed. The rooms were identical except for the colors which were decorated according to house colors.

Hermione met up with Draco in the adjoining bath where she quickly went back to her room to avoid his nasty comments, but he didn't say any tonight which she found very odd.

Both laid down to bed that night dreaming of what they thought to be impossible. Hermione wished she would meet her prince charming like Cinderella while Malfoy dreamed of his future wife, Hermione Granger.

"Enter," Dumbledore called out from behind his wooden desk.

"You wanted to see me," Professor McGonagall said as she came through the door wanting an explanation for the note she received.

"We need to keep and extra eye out for a particular student."

She searched her brain for any sign of weird behavior tonight at dinner, but came up blank, "Whom?"

"Draco Malfoy seems to have inherited his father's genes."

"A veela," she answered shocked, "Does he know who his mate is?"

"I have a pretty good idea that is Miss Granger."

"Oh, we need to remove her from the dorm at once." She stated and then turned to the door ready to protect the member of her house.

"No, I think he will be fine on his own. Miss Granger knows how to use a wand if he becomes a problem." Dumbledore chucked.

Author's note: Hi, this is my first story and I would love feedback. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the plot.

Malfoy woke with a start in the middle of the night from a delightful dream involving a few of his not-so-secret fantasies with Hermione. When he couldn't fall back to sleep he decided to check in on her. He made the short journey to her room and had to be careful opening the door as to not wake her. As he walked closer to her bed he could see the even breaths she made. She was curled up into a ball with nearly two layers of heavy blankets on her and he knew she had to be an angel. Then, she started murmur and twist. He became worried that she would wake up and was on his way out when she started to talk.

"No. . . Stop . . . Please. . ."

Realizing she was having a nightmare, he needed to wake her up and end it. He couldn't stand to see his mate hurting, so he shook her hard. Her eyes flew open and widened in shock. He took a step back, which allowed her enough time to grab her wand and take aim.

"Don't come any closer. Now, I want to know what you are doing in my room at one in the morning," she demanded.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," he spoke to the end of her wand. Malfoy was confused with his mate's behavior. Did she not want to be awoken from a horrible nightmare?

"Since when do you care?" she questioned.

_Oh no! How do I answer without scaring her off? _Malfoy thought helplessly.

"Um, I, -," He froze.

"Wrong answer," she spoke before saying the Petrificus Totalus spell. Malfoy therefore couldn't tell her she was his mate because he was now in a full body bind. She levitated him behind her as she walked calmly to the headmaster's office. She was completely confident to look at, but inside her heart was beating a mile a minute. Finally, she reached Dumbledore's gargoyle and was surprised to find it open with someone walking out.

"Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked.

"Miss Granger, I'm can't believe that you, of all people, are out of bed after hours," she began until she noticed Malfoy floating angelic like past Hermione, "Oh dear, let me fetch the Headmaster." The teacher returned minutes later with Professor Dumbledore at her heels.

"I see he didn't behave," He commented more to himself than to Hermione.

"No, Professor. He didn't even have an excuse for being in my room. He might have hurt me while I was sleeping. Thankfully, I woke up before anything happened," She tried to explain.

"Miss Granger, please release Mr. Malfoy from your charm so we can hear his reason and now would defiantly be a good time for him to tell you his situation," Dumbledore cut in when Professor McGonagall opened her mouth to speak, clearly wishing to punish Malfoy for his invasion of Hermione's privacy.

"Of course," Hermione removed the spell.

"Why you!" snarled Malfoy, "I was trying to be nice and then you had to go and put a full body bind on me." When Malfoy became aware that teachers were present, he had enough decency to look a little embarrassed.

"Good morning, Draco," Dumbledore smiled, "I think it is time you inform Miss Granger of you heritage."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Malfoy said between his teeth while giving the Headmaster a cold stare.

"What heritage? Is that why you've been acting weird?" asked Hermione.

"I'll tell you later," Malfoy replied in a deathly cold manner.

"Malfoy, I'm living in the same dorm with you so you better tell me. Especially if I need to worry about _my_ safety," said Hermione.

"I'm going back to bed," Malfoy called over his shoulders as he went back to his room.

Professor Dumbledore watched a little amused as Hermione ran down the hall after him trying to get him to slow down.

Hermione caught up to Malfoy at the portrait and began firing questions.

"What's you heritage? Why didn't you tell me sooner? Is it a bad thing?" and then when she became extremely frustrated by his lack of response, "Bloody Hell, Malfoy. What the hell's wrong with you?"

"You," was his only answer as he entered the dorm and sat down on a couch. Hermione continued to follow; she wasn't going to rest until she knew the answer.

"Why? What did I do?"

"Everything," He said curtly.

_This is going great! I can't get him to talk in more than one word answers_, Hermione thought.

"Please tell me. I want to help," she pleaded.

He looked at her and saw sincerity written all over her face.

"I'm a veela," he said, but continued when he saw her open her mouth and get that look when she is interested in learning something knew. He figured if he didn't tell her more, she was going to get it out of him somehow, "It's from my father's side. I'm only a quarter, but I have enough of the blood to be similar to a full-blooded."

She didn't know what to say for the first time that day. "This is going to sound stupid, but what exactly is a veela? There aren't a lot of library books on them."

He felt proud his mate was showing an interest in his genetics and was getting more cheerful, "A veela that is a wizard mostly serves the purpose to continue the race. They have a mate, which they stay with for life. Six months after their birthday of seventeen, they must make the first mark or they will die. The whole process takes a year to complete and then the lives of the veela and mate will be forever entwined."

Hermione then wished to ask another question, but thought it was too personal. She had the information she needed to keep another weird incident from occurring, but it never was quite enough.

Malfoy waited, wanting the question he longed to answer, but it never came. They sat in silence, one waited and the other debated.

Getting tired of the game, Malfoy got up to go to bed. As he was walking to the door, Hermione still had an internal battle raging. When his hand started to turn the doorknob, she made her move.

"Malfoy, wait I want to ask you something," she called. He slowly turned around, curious to what she possible wanted to discuss.

"Who is your mate?" She asked it. She put it out in the open and suddenly wished she hadn't. Looking at her feet, she never saw his smile.

Author's note: Hi! I hope you like this story as much as the last one. Thank you so much for the reviews. If anyone knows how to change words or update the document once it is on the web, would you please send me email or a message telling me how. I'm sorry I don't know how to change it; this is only my second chapter of my first story. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

"You," said Malfoy, which caused Hermione to start laughing and it immediately wiped the grin off his face.

"No, really who is it?" she barely got out between the large gulps of air she was now taking in.

"I already told you," said Malfoy. Did she think he was joking? Because he wasn't. When he first found out it was her, he was horrified. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life with a bossy, bushy haired Mudblood, but then things changed. He watched her and noticed her hair had de-frizzed a little and that her bossiness made her strong willed. Silently he thanked his veela blood for picking such a wonderful and beautiful mate.

"Malfoy, stop kidding around. I truly want to know," she said very normal because she had finally stopped laughing.

"Hermione Granger, you are my mate," he stated.

Reality sunk in for Hermione, but she was still, and always would be, hard headed and hard to convince.

"No, I can't be- you've made a mistake," she whispered. She sat down on the couch trying to think of some stupid detail Malfoy missed about how to recognize his mate.

"Granger, I didn't make a mistake. I can sense that you've walked into the room because the hairs on my neck stand up. I can smell you and it's the sweetest scent I've ever come across in my life," Malfoy said as he crouched down to her level on the couch.

"So I'm your . . . mate?" she tried it out and was appalled at the thought.

"If you'll have me as yours?" he asked.

She didn't answer right away and he was starting to feel rejected until she said barely above a whisper, "I would like to speak to Professor Dumbledore in the morning to confirm this-this new revolution. And, until then, we will be civil, but I will not agree to anything before I have all the facts. I'm off to get in a few more hours of sleep."

Malfoy watched as she got up and exited the common room. He even heard the click that meant she had locked the door to keep him out.

He thought it could have gone worse. He knew she didn't believe him and that she was going to try and find away out. Not once had a single mate gotten out and their veela still alive.

Malfoy was lucky enough to find his mate; some have never and end up dying of a broken heart. The problem was that she wouldn't give up her life to save his.

Feeling even more depressed, Malfoy decided to write to his mother and father. He needed to reassure them that he would be alright, although he wasn't certain.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I have found her. She is amazing and exceptionally smart. I hope that in a few days she will agree to be my mate, so far, she hasn't been too thrilled. I'm doing well in school and have achieved top marks so far. I hope all is going well for you guys.

Sincerely yours,

Draco

Malfoy sealed the letter in his custom green envelope and attached it to his eagle, Desmona. He had had her since his first year.

He walked into his room and turned off the lights. He knew he wasn't going to go to sleep, but he just needed to rest.

Malfoy woke up and was delighted to see that Hermione wasn't up yet. That meant he could catch her before she left to talk to the Headmaster.

He got ready and went to wait for her on the couch. When she came out, she was a mess. Her hair look like it was puffier than the first year at Hogwarts and she had heavy bags under her eyes that screamed she didn't have enough sleep.

"Good morning, Malfoy. It looks like you're ready to go to Professor Dumbledore's office," she tried to smile a little, but it look similar to a snarl.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Are you sure you are? It doesn't look like you got much sleep last night," he said as he observed her complete image. Her clothes even looked like they were put on in about two seconds, with a variety of odd garments: a pair of dark blue pants and a pink sweater under her robes.

"I'd have been better if you hadn't snuck into my room last night, woken me up, then proceed to tell me I'm your mate," she enunciated ever syllable.

"Well, shall we go?" he figured now would be a great time to distract her and avoid a big fight.

She didn't respond, but just head straight out of the portrait hole. He had to work to keep up with her she was walking so quickly. Never had he met anyone who could walk at his pace, but she was actually beating him.

When they reached the gargoyle, the second time in 24 hours, both were out of breath. Hermione started firing off random names of sweets of the wizard world. After she ran out of all possible ideas, she started of muggle candies.

"M and M's, Sweet Tarts, Butterfingers, Kit-Kats," as she said the last, the gargoyle opened to a spiral staircase.

Malfoy watched the whole scene, both confused and slightly amused. They ascended the stairs and only knocked once when they were told to enter.

"Good morning, what a pleasant surprise. Is there something about head duties you wish to discuss or is it another important matter?" Dumbledore asked even thought he knew the answer.

Malfoy and Hermione took a seat in the two chairs in front of his desk, neither wishing to start the conversation.

After a long pause, Malfoy answered, "It's about last night- I told her and she would like to know if it is true. I think that sums it up," he spoke the last sentence glaring daggers at Hermione who wished she hadn't come at all by this point.

"Well, Miss Granger it is true. Mr. Malfoy here is a veela and if I'm correct you are his mate," said Dumbledore.

"You are, but how did you know?'' asked Malfoy. He remembered being extremely careful about who he told his family secret to.

"You certainly aren't the first veela to come in to Hogwarts and you won't be the last," Dumbledore looked at Malfoy trying to reassure him that most of the time it works out alright.

Hermione sat there, dumbfounded. They can't possible expect her to give up everything to be with her worst enemy.

"Miss Granger, you've been very quite," Dumbledore turned to her.

"This- I -," she couldn't for a sentence and ended by mumbling something incoherent.

"It takes some time to get used to, but you two will make a great couple," when Dumbledore finished that, both heads shot up. Malfoy knew he had gone too far and Hermione was still dealing with the fact she was a veela's mate, she wasn't ready to be anything like a girlfriend to Malfoy.

"Sir, I don't think I'm ready to be anyone's mate. I'm going to go to the library. I would like to do some research," Hermione excused herself.

Malfoy turned on the professor and was about to start yelling, but Dumbledore beat him to the punch, "Mr. Malfoy, the way you handled this was horrible. Don't expect her to welcome the idea, but you need to lay all the cards down and let her piece it back together. Miss Granger is not one you feed a little information at a time."

Astounded, Malfoy just nodded and exited the room. The headmaster had never been that lecturing. He concluded it to Professor Dumbledore being protective of Hermione and the golden trio.

Hermione had gone to the library and went through half of it before she had to go to potions. She packed up her books and hurried to the dungeons.

"Mrs. Granger, you are late. Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape called out. Hermione rushed to find a seat, but there were none left by Harry and Ron, who were sending her apologetic glances. She chose the empty desk in the back and started to unload when Malfoy graced the class with his presence.

Professor Snape didn't acknowledge his absence, but that wasn't the worst part. The only empty seat was the one next to Hermione and she could have kicked herself for being that stupid.

He walked over and set his bag down. She glared, he glared, it was nothing new until he winked. _This is going to be a long day_, she thought.

Snape had assigned them to brew their own potion. Hermione chose out a Pick-Me-Up potion that was very easy to make. She gathered the supplies planning to do it all herself.

One thing Malfoys hate is being ignored. He grabbed some of the ingredients from her and started chopping. He had read the instructions and knew the potion was easy.

"Give it back," she hissed.

"It is my grade too,"

"I'm smarter so let me do it," she tried to reason.

"No, I've got this one."

She tugged, he pulled. Next thing they knew, the potion had overturn and its contents were spilling everywhere.

"Mrs. Granger and Mr. Malfoy, I expected better from my two top students. Both of you have detention tonight at eight. Turn in all potions at the front and you may go." Professor Snape said as he cleaned up their mess with a flick of his wand.

Hermione packed up her ingredients and stormed out of the classroom leaving a very baffled Harry, Ron, and Malfoy.

Malfoy went up to their common room hoping to talk to her. He found her cuddled up on the couch reading a novel. She was so engrossed in it; she didn't realize he had made an entrance. He slowly walked over to the couch and sat down which brought her out of the fantasy world.

As she made to leave, he grabbed her arm and whispered, "Please, let's talk about this. I don't want us to be mad at each other."

"You should have thought about that before you made me spill my potion and get my first failing grade because I couldn't complete the assignment." She glared.

"I'm sorry, but we have bigger issues. I assumed you've turned the library upside down," she nodded because she had examined every possible book, "and you have also come to the conclusion that there is no way out."

Again she nodded and became increasingly aware of the horrible situation. She was destined to be his mate, with no if's, and's, or but's about it.

"I want you to know I'm not agreeing to anything yet. I would like to get to know you before and if you turn out to be just as much of a prat as I think you are, then I will let you die." She knew she could never let anyone die at her hand, but she didn't want him to lay a hand on her until she was set.

"Fine, I can respect that. I think we should inform your parents and mine about the unique circumstances that have happened," Malfoy said.

"Why? Your parents would absolutely hate that their pureblood son was destined to be with a filthy Mudblood and my parents are against anything that doesn't make me happy. It would be the most horrific gathering," she finished.

"My parents will meet yours and you because that is what tradition says. I will contact them immediately, along with Dumbledore to make arrangements for their arrival," Malfoy confirmed her worst possible fears.

"You- You have no right. I won't let you bring my parent into my decision. I'm a big girl, Malfoy, and I don't need their help or consent because I'm not your girlfriend and you're not my boyfriend."

"No, I'm not, but you are my mate and have agreed to get to know me better which does include some outings that most normal people call dating," he spoke as if it where the most obvious thing in the world.

Hermione was exhausted from arguing with him and agreed to owl her parents if she was allowed to pick the date and time of their visit.

She wrote her parents,

Dear Parents,

I am writing to ask you to visit me at Hogwarts in three days. There is someone I wish for you to meet and some things we must discuss. Things have been going well and I hope the same for you.

Your daughter,

Hermione


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the plot

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the plot.

Hermione finished writing the letter, stood up, and walked down to the Owlery to send it. On the way up she saw Malfoy walking out onto the grounds with a broom in hand and guessed that he must be going to practice for the first Quidditch game. She chose a beautiful barn owl to send her letter then headed back to the common room.

As she was walking to the couch, she tripped. She examined her ankle and discovered she had twisted it extremely bad, but it could be mended with a wand without any trouble. Only one problem, her wand was in her bedroom on the nightstand all the way across the room.

"Great, this day couldn't get any better," she mumbled sarcastically as she waited on the floor for someone to come in and help her.

Out on the Quidditch field, Malfoy sensed something was wrong. He was flying around when his head started to buzz. He knew he hadn't been drinking, so it wasn't from that. He figured it must be a veela thing and it probably had to do with Hermione.

He quickly landed and sprinted up to the castle. People from his own Slytherin house called out to him, but the buzzing just got louder and he couldn't hear them.

He headed towards the common room hoping she was there, nearly screamed the password at the painting, and finally reached his destination.

Malfoy became worried when he couldn't see her in there, but calmed down some when Hermione called out, "Hey, I had a little fall and I happened to have left my wand in my room. Could you please get it for me?"

Seeing she was safe and he couldn't smell and blood or real danger in the air, he decided to have a little fun with the situation.

"Sorry, but I don't think I can walk that far," he said with a lazy yawn.

"Malfoy," she hissed, "I'm the one with the hurt ankle, not you. So could you at least do something!"

"Alright," he walked over to her and picked her up. He wasn't surprised that she hardly weighed anything because she missed most meals to do research in the library. She put up a little protest, but calmed down when he placed her gently on the couch.

She watched in fascination as he examined her foot and ankle. He was barely touching her skin, but it felt great.

"It should heal in a day without magic. You can hardly call it a twist though," he said barely above a whisper. He then let his eyes travel north and noticed that her skirt was pulled back slightly above the knees so he could see a little of her thigh. Hermione squirmed under his gaze and was about to ask him to stop when he slid his hand slightly further up her leg.

She knew she should have told him to stop, but she couldn't get it out. He pushed her back to lie down on the couch and crawled above her. Inside, Hermione felt like a fog had settled over her brain and it wouldn't dissipate. She saw it coming, but still jumped in surprise when Malfoy lips touched hers. He kissed her like he owned her and she didn't want it any other way. She felt his tongue lick the bottom of her lip seeking entry, but she wasn't going to let him go that far.

His senses were going haywire. He could smell her everywhere and wanted so badly to mark her, but he knew he shouldn't. _Maybe I can soften her up a bit and then that get her to let me mark her,_ he thought.

She felt his hand push her skirt up even further, but it was still in a comfort zone. He quickly snaked his hand up under her panties. She gasped and he achieved the access he wanted into her mouth.

She really did try to push him away, but it felt so good and no one had ever touched her like that. He was gentle and rough all at the same time to the point of driving her mad.

They fought for dominance in the kiss, but he won. He pulled back suddenly and asked, "Can I mark you?"

She opened her eyes and didn't move. They stared at one another for a minute before Malfoy let out sigh, climbing off her to give her room to get up.

Once standing they both tried to speak at once, "Look . . . ," and, "I . . ." Neither knew what to say for the first time in their lives and took the embarrassment by trying to avoid any eye contact at all.

After about five minutes of heavy silence, Hermione decided to speak up, "Okay, this is extremely strange for me? I'm sorry, but I guess I need more time and defiantly more information."

Another long and frustrated sigh came from the platinum blonde standing across from her. She really did feel bad about making him wait. All the books she had read said that veelas need their mates like they need air and she was still denying him, but this was indeed the cruelest joke fate had played on the two.

Nodding his head once, Malfoy thought about what he could do or say to make her understand how he felt. The problem was that there was nothing that he knew of, so he was in the palm of her hand until she decided his fate.

He took a deep breathe and suggested, "How about we meet in the common room tonight and I'll tell you everything."

A small smile crossed the lips of Hermione as they finally met each others eyes. _Maybe he has changed,_ she thought.

Hermione hopped over into her room and retrieved her wand once Malfoy left to go back to Quidditch practice. After healing her ankle, she headed off to go find Harry and Ron.

They were in the Gryffindor common room playing a game of wizard chess. Of course, Ron was winning as always. Harry smiled when he saw Hermione, but Ron just gave a grunt as she sat down because he was too into the game to break his concentration.

"Send your bishop diagonally four places to the right," she whispered in Harry's ear. Grinning Harry made the move, although Ron seemed quite displeased with having to play two brains against his one and one of them happened to be at the top of their class.

"Why don't you ever help me, Hermione?" Ron whined, "I need it just as much as he does."

Both Harry and Hermione laughed at Ron. "You never need my help. You always beat Harry," she continued, "Besides; I'm just trying to level the playing field." Harry let out a 'Hey!' as Ron started to snicker. All of them were laughing as the afternoon went on. Man, she had missed her best friends over the summer.

Dinner was as peaceful as it could be with an awful detention coming up. Harry and Ron tried to keep Hermione's spirits up, but she still felt like she had been punched in the stomach and wouldn't eat anything.

Not surprisingly Malfoy watched her all evening with Blaise poking him in the side trying to get him to stare at something else. The something else proved to be an over-made up Pansy that arrived shortly before dessert and planted herself right in the blonde's line of vision.

"So, Drakie, what are you doing tonight?" she tried to whisper seductively, but it came out too high pitched and the way she fluttered her eyelashes it made her look like she was having a seizure.

"Already have plans," he ground out trying to glance behind her.

She also took a peak around her shoulder, but she couldn't tell what he was looking at. "With who?" she pouted.

"Professor Snape," he answered without thinking how that sounded as Pansy scrunched up her nose. Malfoy hardly noticed even then as he caught a glimpse of Hermione walking out of the Great Hall, leaving Blaise to explain that he had a detention that night.

Malfoy caught sight of her as she rounded the corner to go down in the dungeons. He struggled just to keep up with her fast paste. It was cold and damp down in the Slytherin territory and he knew Hermione would be freezing by the time they got there if she kept the wind blowing around her by walking that fast.

She stopped outside the potion's room and rubbed her hands up and down her arms to try to warm herself up. Malfoy was a step ahead, after taking his cloak off, he walked up quietly behind her and put it on her shoulders.

Spinning around, she drew in a quick breathe. Malfoy could hear her heart speeding up, but saw the relief on her face as she let out a smile after finding out it was just him.

Boy, did her moods change quickly, though. Hermione went from frightened to relieved to pissed in about two seconds flat.

"Don't sneak up on me like that! I thought it was somebody trying to kidnap me!" she screamed and was about to continue her rant when the door flung open and a greasy haired, big nosed man stepped out from door frame.

"Enter," he commanded with a small smirk at a blushing Hermione.

Both walked in and saw about fifty filthy cauldrons sitting at the desks. "Start now and I'll be back in two hours. Have them all sparkling by the time I get back," Snape called out from behind as the last of his robes swished out the door.

Malfoy smirked at Hermione as he pulled out a wand. Horrified, she was about the tackle him when he spoke up, "Now, now. He didn't say we couldn't use them."

Her jaw dropped as she lost her voice and her head started to shake unconsciously side to side. Almost laughing out loud, Malfoy stared at her appearance. Her cheeks were flushed from anger and her nose stood out red in the chilling air of the dungeons, a mouth hanging open for a couple of flies to fly right in with eyes that seemed about to bug, down to the Slytherin cloak hanging around her shoulders and a Gryffindor sweater up under that.

"Alright, if you're so against it, then I'll take this half and you take that half," he indicated, "And we'll go separate ways." A slight swing of his wand and his half was done.

Hermione huffed and went in search for the water bucket and a scrubbing brush as the infuriating boy sat down and just stared at her.

An hour later and Malfoy was getting tired of watching her torture herself as she only got about ten done.

She didn't have time to register what happened as he suddenly took out his wand and cleaned hers, too. Scrubbing a minute more before she realized the cauldron was already spotless where seconds ago it was scummy.

Glaring, she stood and marched over to where he looked relaxed and stuck her finger in his face. On a normal occasion she might have laughed as his eyes crossed to view the finger now in front of his nose, but she was so mad she didn't even notice.

"Look here, buddy! I'm so sick of your high superiority attitude! I told you I don't cheat and what do you do, you to it anyways- go right behind my back and-" she was cut off as he stood up and moved her arm away.

She had guts, no doubt about that, but you'd almost have to be stupid not feel a little intimidated with a strong Quidditch player that is a foot taller than you looking down at you through two slits.

Taking a step back, he took a step forward. They continued this until her bottom hit the nearest desk behind her and then he moved into her personal space.

"I was trying to do you a favor," he hissed, "I saw that you didn't eat _anything_ at dinner tonight and I know you're exhausted. No mate of mine will **ever **work on an empty stomach."

Hermione just squeaked for her answer as his gray storms burned into her.

Then as quickly as the anger came, it disappeared. The two clenched fist by his side slowly unfolded and where placed on her hips. She stood still fighting a mental battle when he then lowered his head to her neck.

He nipped and sucked on the vein that was throbbing so wildly he thought surely it would burst. Breathing in her scent was like heaven and he knew it would only make it harder to pull back now.

Her heart felt like it stopped the second his tongue came out to taste her skin, but then it kicked it up into overdrive and pounded throughout her ears. The fog from earlier came back as he slowly moved a hand up under her shirt, rubbing small circles at the small of her back.

His light kisses trailed up her neck and down her jaw. He chuckled low when he felt her hands fist in his shirt. _She tastes wonderful_, he thought as he finally brought his lips to hers for the second time that day.

The difference from before was that she lost the battle with her rational side and completely let him in the moment he asked with his tongue. This was only her third kiss and somehow she knew very few would ever be able to measure up to the way he made her feel. He was a strong and protective, but also sweet and gentle when he wanted to be.

She had no idea how long they were there before they heard a soft clearing of the throat. Hermione buried her head in Draco's chest, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Snape cleared it again and she met his eyes with a sheepish expression. They then both glanced to Malfoy and were surprised to find him glaring quite murderously at the professor.

"If you two are done exchange spit," he sneered, "then you would be wise to leave as soon as possible."

The two teenagers practically ran out of the room and headed down the hall, Hermione walking ninety to nothing and Malfoy desperately trying to catch up.

Author's note: I so sorry it took me so long to update! I've was so busy and then I forgot about the story. Now I am going to try to get started back. I know it's a short chapter and I promise the next one will be longer, but I just needed to update. Please review- I really would like to hear what you've got to say about the story.

Thanks for reading,

JulieAnn5


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Author's note: I'm so sorry, it's been forever since I've updated. I just lost my inspiration for it for a while. Hopefully I'm back until I finish.

Thank you so much for all the reviews. They've helped me keep going. I hope you enjoy.

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Draco caught up to Hermione outside the portrait. She was screaming the password over and over again- and to her dismay, nothing was happening.

"WHY WON'T THIS WORK?" she gave up in frustration and sank to the floor. Although Draco was a bit concerned about the portrait, it did let him keep his mate in sight while she was having a slight breakdown and he could help her.

Draco walked up behind her and sat down. He pulled her into his lap and to his surprise, she didn't fight him. They didn't say anything, but just stayed there comfortably with one another.

They were only there a few minutes when they heard footsteps approaching. Hermione whipped her head up from Draco's shoulder and almost hurt herself trying to get up.

Draco followed suit, but instead of letting Hermione completely out of the situation, he pulled her into his side and wrapped a long arm around her waist.

Before she even registered what had happened, two tall bodies appeared in the hallway: one with dark, messy hair and the other flaming red. This could only mean one thing: Trouble.

They were in a deep discussion dealing with something about beaters and didn't notice them until they were about five feet from the portrait.

Two startled pair of eyes flashed between Draco and Hermione before one locked in a staring contest with Draco and the other still tried to put two and two together.

"Hi, guys," Hermione tried to smile at her two best friends, "so, what brings you all here?"

Ron opened his mouth a couple of times, only managing to resemble a fish, not much more. Harry on the other hand, immediately caught Hermione's gaze and refused to give it up.

"We thought we'd come see how our friend handled detention," Harry said. Their eyes continued to stay locked. Hermione tried to think of something to tell them, but when she came up blank, she started to panic.

Draco, sensing both this and not liking the fact his mate was looking at another male, started to growl slightly. Ron seemed to be on the same track as with barbaric means of communication because this brought him out of his trance. He took two steps forward and pulled back a fist.

But Draco was faster. He dodged the swing and shoved Hermione behind him. Then he barred his fangs, getting in fight mode.

Thankfully Harry was just as fast or there might have been a murder at Hogwarts that night. Harry reached forward and hauled Ron backwards. Ron wasn't going to stay put until he heard a small voice from behind Malfoy.

"Ronald Weasley if you don't stop it, I'm going to owl your mother," a harsh and slightly out of breath Hermione threatened just about as well as Mrs. Weasley on her off days. Which happened to be enough so put the fear of God in an extremely quick tempered red-headed boy.

He managed to use his brain once and called out, "Are you alright?"

Hermione sighed; she really couldn't stay mad at him long when he was only trying to protect her.

"Yes, but I don't think Draco is doing too well at the moment," she noticed that the growl was growing in strength slightly, "could you guys go on in the room and I'll calm him down so we can talk- well, that's if you can get in the room, we had some trouble with it earlier."

Thessa, the little girl in the portrait who had been watching all this, spoke up, "It's because its time to change the password. One only lasts for about a week around here."

"Oh," Hermione said and then thought a moment, "how about, Snow White."

"Of course," Thessa answered and then the hole opened up.

Harry climbed in first and Ron second, but not without looking back to make sure she was going to be okay.

The door closed back and they were left alone in the hallway. Draco still had his eyes focused on the portrait.

"Draco . . .," Hermione called out. He turned and studied her from head to foot before he pinned her against the wall. His hands were everywhere checking for injuries, but to Hermione it felt like heaven. He hardly touched her skin to make sure he didn't hurt her. Starting on her face and working down, he covered every inch he could reach.

Her moan when he traced her bra through her shirt completely brought him back to reality. Surprisingly, he stopped and let out a breath on her neck.

"What's wrong?" she asked, trying to get him to look her in the eye.

"It's . . ." he looked into her eyes trying to get across what her was feeling, but couldn't, "this is getting harder, to have you so close and not to do anything about it. It shouldn't have happened like this today. I completely gave in to my veela side and then it scared me when I couldn't come back."

"Yes."

"Pardon?" he asked.

"Yes, you . . . can . . . mark . . . me," she drew it out.

She really wasn't expecting the answer she got in return. His eyes darkened and the hands one her hips moved to the front, one dipping down below her skirt. Her eyes closed when he slowly started rubbing small circles on the outside of her panties.

He leaned down and licked her earlobe, "You realize what this means, don't you?"

Her brain took longer to process what he was asking her. _What what meant? The marking or her acceptance or both_? The answer came out in a moan when he ground his palm into her. Now, she totally knew what he meant.

As great as it was to be there in the hallway with him, she had two patiently (well, maybe not totally patient) boys waiting for them in the common room. She gave Draco a push, he took the hint, but gave her the most confused and hurt look she'd even seen.

"My friends are waiting for us," she replied and was glad to see him perk up when he realized she wasn't rejecting him.

He stepped back from the wall, but when Hermione tried to move too, he pushed her back. "You look like a mess," he then proceeded to fix her skirt and try to calm her hair a bit.

He went through the portrait first, dragging Hermione behind him by her hand.

Ron and Harry chose the couch to sit on and both muttered out a finally when they saw them enter.

Draco continued leading Hermione all the way over to the couch. He sat down and pulled a slightly protesting Hermione down onto his lap. Both Ron and Harry looked a little un-nerved at this.

"Okay, so where to begin," Hermione mused.

Draco took that as an invitation and took charge, "I found out this summer I was a veela and -"

"What's a veela?" said Harry.

"Well, if you'd let me finish, Potter, a veela is a magical creature that has a mate, in very protective of this said mate, and must mark the mate, now –"

"No way! We'll find a way to get you out of this Hermione!" Ron shouted and stood up. Draco started a slight rumble in his chest.

Hermione motioned him to sit down while Draco pulled her closer to him. She didn't mind just so long as he calmed down, which he did.

"I've done plenty of research and everything I find leads to the same conclusion- there's no way out."

"Then we'll murder him."

Hermione shuddered and quickly answered, "Absolutely not. Draco may not have been the nicest person in the past, but I think he truly cares about me now. The first mark is scheduled to happen tonight."

Ron looked aghast at this piece of information. Harry had been strangely quiet.

"If you're sure about this, Hermione, we trust your judgment completely. We just want you to know we're there for you if you ever need us," Harry looked straight at Hermione when he said this. She gave a small smile in return before Ron interrupted the sweet moment.

"Yeah, we're not scared of going to Azkaban if you ever need us to kill him either. Don't you even think about hurting her!" He spoke the last part directly to Draco.

Draco narrowed his eyes before replying, "I'd rather die, Weasel."

"Good then, we're all on the same page," Harry's silent plea for them to stop. He could see how much it was hurting Hermione.

"Curfew ends in about five minutes. You wouldn't want to be caught out after hours," Draco said when he noticed the clock almost ten.

Hermione glanced up finally and then jumped up to give her two best friends hugs before they left. As she hugged each one, Draco shook some from his restraint. He wanted to pull them apart and castrate both boys, but he somehow managed to let them have their moment.

She walked them to the portrait and wished them a good night. As the portrait closed, she silently wished she could fade into the painting to join Thessa instead of the possessive veela waiting on her. Butterflies took hostage of her stomach as she slowly turned around.


End file.
